Italy V Spain

It was all too much fot the Italian, but they should be proud of their performance throughout the tournament, Spain were just too hot to handle in the end. I just foung it funny that people dared to critisie the Spainards for not playing with a striker upfront. With the talent that they've got, they don't need one. Spain came good when it mattered and after that tremendous semi final with Germany, Italy just ran out of steam were it was needed the most. Prandelli should be applauded for getting the Azzurri to the final when everyone else doubted they had the ability anymore.

Although Prandelli maybe made a mistake by starting with Giorhio Chiellini as it was obvious from the game against the Germans, he wasn't 100% matchfit. I don't like to put the blame on any individual as it is a team sport and any mistake or achievment was by the team, yet the first goal was a little to do with the fact that Chiellini couldn't stop Fabregas. Giorgio then went off in the 21st minute, meaning they had one less sub later on in the game when it could have mattered. Italy were not able to keep the ball in Spains half for very long and the midfield maestro, who is Andrea Pirlo was completely nullified, everytime he got the ball in an area that could hurt Spain there were atleast 3 Spainsh players around him, putting him under great pressure. He may be an amazing player, but he has played 2 very intense games in quick succession, the 120 minutes against England and Thursdays game against Germany. One of the major reasons he has been so effective for Juventus this term is because he was able to rest a week before every match.
Yet Italy were able to hold the off until the 41st minute when Jordi Alba got the second, yet there still was a glimmer of hope, but when Thiago Motta pulled up with a hamstring injury, it started to fade very quickly. Thiago Motta had come on as a subsitute for Ricardo Montolivo in th 57th minute, which I thought was a mistake to sub so early, he had looked rathe creative and "Pirlo like" at times. And as Italy had used up all their subs, they were forced to play the remaining half hour with 10 men. It seemed highly unlikely that Italy were going to score when they had 11 men, so when they went down to 10 it was more or leess game over. Torres then scored the 3rd in the 84th minute and a minute after coming on, Mata scored the 4 to make it Spain's third trophy on the trot.
Just a sign that the boys in blue are improving....they're just not the finished product yet.

Forza Azzurri!!